The Manhattan Project [rewriting]

O N E.

Claire tried her best to forget about her parents deciding to relocate her and decided to make this summer one to remember. Traveling all over Europe with her fellow West Coast rich kids on their private jets, she made sure this summer made her forget that when September rolled around, she would be gone. Blacking out at a nightclub in Mykonos and then waking up for tea at the Mandarin Oriental in Paris was an efficient way of pushing the thought of the future away.

"Your father instructed me to give you this," Arthur told Claire as he handed her a pamphlet, distracting her from her thoughts.

The glossy cover was titled Highland Academy and had a beautiful large building on the cover. Claire's previous school, Mendel Preparatory, resembled a college campus as everything in California was more spread out. Upper East Side brownstones and penthouses were her new normal, replacing the Bel Air and Hidden Hills mansions.

Highland was the most prestigious, renowned boarding school in the nation, and being a McKinley had serious influence over the admissions committee, especially when one applied after the deadline.

Claire and her father had struck a deal: she would attend Highland her senior year without creating a huge scandal and he would let her move back to the West Coast after high school with her trust fund intact.

She read the pamphlet as she had nothing better to do; all her Los Angeles friends were sleeping due to the time change.

Highland took up an entire block on 5th Avenue and was made up of four interconnected buildings. Two of the buildings were for academic purposes and the other two were the student residences. The first two academic buildings had classrooms, an auditorium, an indoor basketball court, an indoor pool, and many other lavish amenities Highland offered.

The other two buildings were where the students lived. The West building was the woman's residential hall while the East building was for the men. In the middle of the four buildings was a small stone courtyard with a beautiful marble fountain.

The rest of the pamphlet was information about the neighborhood Highland was located in: the infamous Upper East Side.

Claire then reached a paragraph that piqued her interest: every new student had a tour guide who would act as their mentor as they settled in at Highland. She wondered who was assigned to her and instantly felt bad for them for the mess she was.

Looking out of the car window, Claire realized they were already in Manhattan. They were surrounded by morning traffic on 5th Avenue, making it hard to reach Highland Academy in the next ten minutes. Arthur realized this and took a different route. Then, all of a sudden, the car stopped.

Claire's phone vibrated in her pocket and she pulled it out to see a text from a Manhattan area code.

UNKNOWN NUMBER: Hi, it's Isabella Parker, your Highland tour guide. Meet me in the courtyard once you arrive xx

Impeccable timing. She took out her silver flask from her purse and took a quick sip. She winced, the vodka burning her throat as it found its way down. Liquid luck was a necessity if she was going to make it through the day without kicking and screaming to be put on a flight back to Los Angeles.

Arthur noticed her flask through the rearview mirror but before she could say something he spoke, "Your secrets are mine to keep, Miss McKinley."

She thanked him and placed her flask back in her Balenciaga. Stepping out of the Escalade, she looked around at what would be her new home for the next nine months.

The loud noise that was New York overwhelmed her senses. Arthur left her in front of one of the academic buildings, the North Building, to meet Isabella while he went to leave her luggage with an administrator. They were to be delivered to Claire's dorm, but she didn't even know where it was.